1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a supplement control for supplementing toner from a container to an accumulating unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus of an electrophotographic system forms a toner image based on an image data input to the image forming apparatus by consuming the toner stored in an accumulating unit. A configuration of the image forming apparatus in which the toner stored in the accumulating unit is consumed by forming toner images, and hence the toner is supplemented as needed to the accumulating unit from a container configured to be detachably attachable with respect to the image forming apparatus is known.
In the image forming apparatus, the fact that a concentration of a toner image developed by the accumulating unit is changed in accordance with an amount of toner accumulated in the accumulating unit is known. Accordingly, the image forming apparatus is required to supplement the toner from the container to the accumulating unit so that the amount of toner stored in the accumulating unit reaches a target amount.
In the image forming apparatus of the related art, a configuration in which a toner supplement amount is determined based on a difference between an amount of toner to be consumed from the accumulating unit by forming the toner image (amount of consumption) and a difference between the amount of toner and the target amount to be accumulated in the accumulating unit is known. For example, an image forming apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-160969 determines the toner supplement amount based on the amount of consumption estimated based on the image data, the difference between the amount of toner and the target amount to be accumulated in the accumulating unit, and an accumulated total value of the differences.
Here, the amount of consumption of toner is a theoretical amount based on calculation, and hence there is a slight difference between the actual amount of consumption of the toner consumed actually from the accumulating unit and the estimated amount of consumption described above. Accordingly, even though toner of an amount corresponding to the estimated amount of consumption described above is supplemented to the accumulating unit, the amount of toner in the accumulating unit may not become the target amount. Therefore, the image forming apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-160969 is configured to determine the toner supplement amount based on not only the estimated amount of consumption described above, but also the difference between the amount of toner and the target amount to be accumulated in the accumulating unit.
However, in the image forming apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2013-160969, there is a probability that the toner is excessively supplemented from the container to the accumulating unit or the amount of toner in the accumulating unit is remarkably reduced from the target value in the case where the container is replaced. This is because the toner supplement amount of the container after replacement is determined based on the accumulated total value suitable for the toner supplement amount of the container which has been mounted on the image forming apparatus before the replacement even though the container has replaced.